Blue Diamonds (Book One of The Blue Diamonds Saga)

by Murphy, R. E.

  Even though he was holding his ground well, Shomnath felt the pressure of Baylor’s relentless attack mounting, and he sensed a panic coming. He knew that if he faltered only slightly it could be the end of him.

  “Kala! I could use your help,” Shomnath called through clenched teeth.

  Just as the words left his lips, Shomnath raised his gauntlet and blocked three, downward slashing strikes from Baylor’s sword. The ice blade whipped into his glove with such speed that the three hits sounded as if it was a single blow, and it struck with enough force to send the prince reeling back several steps.

  “I can hardly see you!” answered Kala, who was keeping distance from the fray until her vision cleared.

  “Hardly? What do you mean by hardly?” he yelped.

  Shomnath ducked under a backhand from Baylor’s blade, which whizzed by just above his head. Then Baylor pulled his ice blade around and up in a swimming motion, in order to slash straight down at Shomnath's skull, who was now crouching from ducking under the backhand. Shomnath lifted his sword horizontally just in time to block, resulting in another powerful impact. Even when he blocked the strikes cleanly, chips of ice flew out, sometimes directly into his face, adding to the difficulty in keeping up with the dwarf's next move.

  “I mean hardly!”

  Kala held her blades ready to throw, but even the strain of keeping her eyes open for a few moments brought her to tears. When she did manage to will them open, she may as well have been staring into a hurricane.

  “Use my voice,” said Shomnath, and he stole a glance in her direction before deflecting another thrust from Baylor’s sword.

  “He’s to your left,” he called.

  “I might hit you,” said Kala.

  “He will hit me!” Shomnath said, while simultaneously blocking two low, sweeping strikes.

  “I can’t.”

  “You must," he pleaded. "Just focus on my voice.”

  Then, in order to guide her, Shomnath started to sing their favorite pub song. It was about a hunter, trying his best to convince an elf to let him hunt in the elf's forest for a magnificent boar, in which they would all feast on together. The joke being that elves are almost exclusively plant eaters. As he sang he rallied an attack, swinging his sword at the dwarf madly, trying his best to increase the racket.

  Nervous, yet with ever-steady hands Kala shut her eyes, envisioned her surroundings, and tried to tune in to Shomnath’s voice. After several long breathes she let go of her fear, and then let three blades go as fast and as hard as she could.

  Two shots were great attempts. The first of which was on a blazing path for the dwarf's throat, but Baylor managed to raise his ice gauntlet in time to block it. Even though he was able to deflect the projectile, shards of ice chipped and flew like shrapnel, shredding the skin along the left side of his forehead. The second scored a solid hit to his ribs. If his vest had been only slightly thinner leather, the dart would have pierced through his lung and proved fatal, but instead it stopped lodged in a rib bone.

  The third of her blades was totally off mark and it landed deep in Shomnath’s left thigh, immediately bringing his attack on Baylor to a halt. He did not grab at the blade to pull it out, but backed several paces in fear of Baylor utilizing the new advantage. Shomnath truly thought the end was near, but Baylor pulled away and turned to rush Kala.

  “Kala!” Shomnath screamed in warning, but to no avail. Baylor was already upon her. Before she could even think to run, Baylor’s ice sword was in and out of her. In what seemed a blink of an eye, he skewered her right through her abdomen.

  Kala felt the wound, but with her vision only slightly recovered didn't see the delivery. She only saw the blurry collage of the sparkling, green hues that made up the forest ceiling once she fell to her back.

  "No!" Shomnath screamed, and the world turned upside down for the prince, weak from the sight of yet another one of his companions going down. He then yanked the silver blade free from his thigh and stared at his aggressor apathetically. He had witnessed everyone that he truly cared for fall in one day. He felt disgusting, like a savage with nothing left to live for but to kill.

  “Yes," said the dwarf. "I feel your hate. But mine is greater!”

  Baylor then shifted his weight onto his hind foot and tensed, ready to spring towards Shomnath and finish him once and for all, but noticed a shadow rising behind him. A shadow was lifting a large axe high up in the air, poised to chop the wizard-dwarf down from head to toe.

  Like a cat, Baylor dived to the side and out of harms way, and Pall’s axe crashed hard into the ground, drawing sparks.

  “Ye killed me kin,” Pall screamed at Baylor, who was rising from his dive. “Me father. Me cousins. Everyone!” Shomnath limped to Pall’s side, rejuvenated from the sight of his friend.

  “And now I'll finish off your clan,” smiled Baylor, but instead of rushing for them, the dwarf was slowly walking backwards and away from them.

  “Wait, something's wrong,” Shomnath said, extending his hand out so that he could stop Pall from pursuing.

  “Yes, something is wrong!” Baylor laughed, as a red, flickering light began to shine in his eyes. Enough time had passed, and Baylor had regained his link with his dragon.

  The dragon was able to resist Baylor’s initial call, because it was so infatuated with its own skirmish. Only thirty of Stark’s men remained, and although they were effectively working the strike and hide strategy, they were running out of strength, arrows, and heart.

  The dragon had taken extra notice of one soldier in particular. A gold man who wouldn't die, even after being batted away, over and over. The dragon currently had this golden plaything trapped under the weight of its right hind foot while it battled the other weaker soldiers, deciding to save the shiny one for last.

  Baylor saw flashes of the scenario through the dragon's eyes, and realized that forcing the beast to his side now would only bring the soldiers along with it, so he blasted the dragon's mind with commands to finish up the task. The dragon screamed in anger, but succumbed to the urge to obey its master. It cocked its head up and again let loose its gaping maw, spreading flame to the forest canopy.

  Shomnath and Pall gawked as the backdrop behind Baylor went aglow in waves of yellow and orange flame. The radiant heat wave smacked them so powerfully that they were forced to their knees. The wizard dwarf himself appeared to be burning, as red flame danced around his body. Shomnath peered at the spectacle behind a shielding forearm, noticing one thing right away. Baylor’s gauntlet had disappeared, or rather it had melted off.

  “His gauntlet is gone!” called Shomnath, and he did not need to repeat himself. Pall forced himself up from his knees and then charged forward, into the blistering heat, dragging along his axe with both hands.

  Baylor laughed madly, and seemed to be amused by the futile attack. Then, with instincts that he never knew, Baylor opened his mouth and let loose his own blast of flame! The fireball shot from Baylor's mouth and exploded into Pall's body, sending him airborne, only to land several feet away in a smoldering heap.

  Baylor stood there, just as surprised as Shomnath was, and looked down to his hands. He marveled at how his fingernails had grown so long, black, and sharp. Scales also protruded from the skin covering his forearms. They were shiny and black, just like his pet's. He was becoming one with the dragon in all aspects. Not only mentally, but physically as well. Strangely, Baylor wasn’t worried, but rather quite pleased.

  22) Leap of Faith

  How much longer do you intend to keep this up?

  Baymar let Ambrosia's question hang. Instead of answering, he chose to tuck it away in a quiet corner of his mind. He was simply too busy steering his ride to give the sorceress any of his precious attention, because at the pace that he was going any wrong move could send him crashing to his death. So he pushed on, willing his bison to its limits with all the twisting, turning, and jumping through the foliage.

  In addition to the terrain, a large chu
nk of Baymar's mind was frantically processing some very interesting images. Most interesting of all was the peculiar dwarf that his friends were fighting against. The crystal clear images were coming to Baymar from a squirrel that he’d cast a spell of wandering eyes on earlier, although crystal clear was the only good thing he could to say about the visions.

  In the past he used this particular enchantment to spy on people wandering around his house. He didn’t care if they wandered, of course he was always perfectly safe inside his school, but he refused to waste precious time answering the door every time someone knocked. As if people snooping around his house weren't enough irritation, they always seemed to find their way to his doorstep when he was deep into an experiment. Eventually, after much practice, the cleric mastered applying the wandering eyes on the various rodents, lizards, and insects he found crawling around his library. Sometimes he even cast the spell on more than one critter at a time. It was his pet tarantula that informed him when Kala, Rolo, and Pall first arrived at his school.

  Using the spell he could assume complete control over the creature, barring of course the most primal behaviors. Today he was learning first hand that some creatures were much, much harder to control than others. He was able to keep the squirrel stationary, but the damned thing darted its eyes in every which way and at such a dizzying pace that he couldn’t watch for too long of a time, lest he risk losing control of his bison.

  I wish you hadn’t chosen a squirrel, said Ambrosia, who obviously agreed with his thoughts.

  “Well, the only other animal around was a bird, and I haven't tried one before,” he answered.

  Well you should, said Ambrosia. I think you’ll find them quite cooperative, and they have extraordinary vision.

  “I’ll keep that in mind, thanks,” Baymar said.

  Certainly.

  It was the first time Ambrosia spoke politely to Baymar, and it threw him off a bit. It might have received more thought, were the situation different.

  Aga crossed paths with Baymar at about the same time that his friends encountered Baylor, which was much sooner than he was hoping for, in both instances. So to make up for time, for the last several minutes Baymar had been making Aga chase him, as he waited for the right time to move forward with his plan. The trickiest part to playing chase with the giant elemental was making it chase him far enough from the battle to remain out of sight, yet still remain close enough to act.

  Luckily for Baymar the battle was so intense, that it diverted attention from the low rumbling that reverberated throughout the woods. Some thanks were also owed to the dragon's fits of fire, which filled the forest with so much smoke that the giant elemental couldn't be seen unless it were merely paces away.

  Baymar led the Aga so many times around the battle, that a wide lane of flattened trees had formed a circle around it. Keeping the giant elemental chasing him in a perfect circle was actually the easiest part of his plan, because Baylor's fog wall gave him a way of approximating the area of the battle.

  When Baymar saw that their adversary was a dwarf, he nearly fell from his ride. Of all people! And the power this dwarf displayed, it was fantastic. He watched the others fall, one after the other, yet as painful as it was he still refrained from charging in to help. He needed to know, without a doubt, that the dwarf was holding the diamond. The peculiar character surely wanted them dead, but as far as he could tell the dragon was only attacking the soldiers. Baymar had to be sure that the dwarf wasn't just another servant of the dragon's true master.

  Then, the squirrel sent a vision of the dwarf spitting a line of fire from his mouth. That was the end of the squirrel’s transmission, and it was all that Baymar needed to see.

  Did you see that? said Ambrosia.

  “Yes.”

  Without hesitation, Baymar then mumbled an enchantment and turned his bison completely around, reversing his course and placing himself in a direct path for the Elemental.

  What are you doing? Ambrosia screamed so loud that his skull rang.

  Baymar ignored her and sat down low, flattening his body against the bison’s back. Once steady, he extended an arm, pointing his fist at Aga. Then he beckoned the bison faster, as if he was in a joust, only he wouldn’t just be playing the part of the knight, but the lance as well.

  Although his life rested in the next few seconds, Baymar was smiling like a madman. Severing the link with the squirrel gave him his focus back all at once, and the wave of clarity hit him with euphoric effect. His heart beat harder than one should at his age, but he couldn't stop giggling at the thought of a mouse charging at an elephant.

  Aga noticed the sudden maneuver, yet wasn't surprised by the move. It just assumed that the human had finally given up. It wouldn't be a new phenomenon. Most creatures Aga squished became paralyzed with fear in the face of the behemoth’s magnificence. Yet every time, usually at the very moment before his foot stamped out their life, Aga detected what he thought was relief. Relief that death would come swiftly.

  Instead of slowing, the giant elemental charged harder, urged on by the delicious thought of squishing the wizard. After the cruel joke that the tricky human pulled on him, he would be more than happy to oblige the death wish.

  Have you lost your wits? said Ambrosia.

  “Just trust me,” said Baymar.

  As Baymar approached the behemoth he caught a clear view of Aga’s eyes. They were now red and bright yellow orbs of swirling magma. He would have loved to stop to marvel at them, but moments before impact he mentally yanked his bison into a hard turn, darting into the forest, through the fog wall, and straight for the fight with Baylor. He steadied his steed and glanced behind, hoping that Aga had followed.

  Baymar's hopes were answered as he watched Aga slide from the sharp turn, nearly topple over, and then furiously rake the ground with it’s hooves in order to remain upright and continue chase.

  Waves of earth flew in the air as a result of the elemental's slide, which all came crashing down into newly formed hills. Without missing a stride the elemental scraped itself back on course, running like a dog on a slick tile floor, crushing and sending trees sailing with every pump of it’s massive legs.

  He’s still coming, said Ambrosia.

  “Good,” answered Baymar, who sat up on his bison once again and began chanting another spell.

  Aga’s thunderous slip couldn’t be ignored, and the ruckus stole Baylor's attention away from his foes. The dwarf forgot about the prince and his pesky friends, and began to scan his surroundings for the source of the mystery noise, worried that it might be some secret weapon brought from the city. The noise, and a trembling in the ground grew stronger by the second, and Baylor began to panic in fear.

  Shomnath seized the opportunity to grab Pall's smoldering body, so that he might drag him away. He didn't get far, before he locked his eyes on what Baylor had found, high up above.

  Baylor was gawking at how the treetops overhead were separating, being shoved aside to make way for what appeared to be a castle with legs. A castle that was headed straight for him. Then, when Aga’s giant, menacing face pushed through the foliage the dwarf panicked, and then immediately called on his dragon for help.

  The dragon felt Baylor’s fear and heeded its master's call immediately. It left the small group of soldiers that it was engaged with and jumped hard, drawing all the power in its hind legs in order to punch through the canopy that kept it caged down for so long.

  The fires weakened the trees, and the dragon was now able to crash through the forest ceiling as it it were made of glass. It erupted from the foliage and shot up into the sky, in a burst of leaves, shattered wood and cinder. Once airborne, it extended its wings and suspended itself in the air, only to find the giant elemental, standing defiantly before it. Baylor pumped his fist and cheered then, as the dragon unloaded a stream of fire that engulfed the face of the stone monster.

  When the flames stopped, Baylor was stunned. The flame blackened the behemoth's face, but otherwise
it appeared uninjured. The dragon hung in the air after the flames diminished, also confused by the ineffectiveness of its attack.

  Aga stared at the curious firebird, not quite sure what to make of it. The ancient one knew dragons, but this one was different from any it’d ever seen. The elemental had always been, without any dispute, the most powerful being around, a truth that even dragon's had respected. In all of Aga's far reaching memory it could not remember a dragon challenging his might, yet lately all sorts of creatures meant him ill.

  Baylor was so distracted by the show, that he didn’t see the white creature charging towards him until it was only a few yards away, and only then did he see the old man who was riding it. The old human was smiling madly, holding what appeared to be a red, ball of light over his head with both of his hands, as if he meant to throw it down onto Baylor.

  Baylor threw his arms up defensively and braced for impact. He expected to be hit by some magical bolt, but instead, the charging white animal fizzled away in a whipping mist, sending the old man flying over him. Baylor looked up and watched the man soaring through the air, but lost sight of him just as the red light came down on the dwarf like a bucket of water might. Baylor screamed then, and frantically tried to swipe the red light from his body, only to find that it had diminished just as swiftly as it came.

  Shomnath had looked up just in time to see the collision between Baymar and Baylor. He thought Baymar had made a terrible error when he saw him soaring into the air, but then Baymar threw down a ball of light onto the dwarf. To the prince’s astonishment Baylor simply vanished. One moment the dwarf was there, and then the next moment only Baymar remained, as though he were spirited away. Now only the old cleric was there, laughing and holding the diamond up in victory.

  It was at that point that Aga took his attention away from the pesky firebird and peered back down at its prize. Aga's molten eyes beamed down at the wizard, radiating heat. The wizard looked back up at the behemoth, and then there was a brief moment of silence. The elemental's mouth opened wide, displaying a terrible, limestone crusted smile. The wizard then went pale with dread.